Writer
Tess Grantham, a member of my writing group, Alchemy, has a brilliant post on her blog titled “The Power of Doubt”–how it hinders us as writers, and how it pushes us to become better. …Doubt is the improver in baker’s flour. It’s the magic ingredient in Grandma’s secret steak and kidney pie recipe. It’s the great arbiter of good work. How …
Wait! Before you groan that I’m ranting about TV rather than talking about writing… this post is ultimately about storytelling, so stick with me! TV takes a distant second to books, for me—but I’m a complete Whovian. Or at least, I was. Well, no, I am—it’s complicated. I’m the sort of person who would wear these with a straight face. … …
CJ Jessop, an awesome writer (whose first novel I had a blast beta reading) and a member of my crit group, Alchemy, posted a 300-word short story on her blog in response to a writing challenge. The story could be on any topic, but had to contain the words SWAN, FUCHSIA, PARANOID, SMOTHER, SCREEN, and BODY. I think she did brilliantly, …
There are a lot of people who don’t believe in studying the ‘craft’ of writing. Writing is art, they say. You need to find your passion and let it flow through you. Don’t worry about structure or voice or character arcs. That only inhibits the freedom of your unique magic. I like to imagine these people say these things while …
One of my bestest writing buddies, Ashley Capes (a beta reader for Chaos, and a fantastic writer & poet) has a post on his blog titled Suggestiveness and Clarity in Poetry. I’m a big proponent of studying poetry, even if you’re strictly a prose writer (as I am). Even if you’re not going for poetic prose, poetry can teach you some fantastic wordsmithing …
You’ve slaved over your brilliant masterpiece for months–or even years–and finally, by some chance of fate, it ends up in my eager, avid-reader hands. So, what are the chances I’m going to make it to the end? Without going into the usual discussion about interesting plot, compelling characters, and good worldbuilding… there are a few readerly irritations that seem to …
I recently listened to an older episode of the (brilliant) podcast Writing Excuses on the subject of Character Quirks. About halfway through the podcast, there was a bit of confusion when the contributors realized that they all had different interpretations of what a character quirk actually is. This bites us a lot when talking about writing–there’s no firm authority defining all the …
The subject of villains came up between me and another writer friend who is plotting an arc for a very virtuous, idealistic, squeaky-clean sort of fellow who eventually turns entirely batsh*t-crazy-evil. How does one go about this? How do you convincingly portray the loss of respect for life that is necessary in this kind of Villain With a Capital V? …
Here’s my issue with prologues: I’m a long-time fantasy reader. That means I have been faced with more prologues than I can even count. Some books even have two prologues! Sometimes these prologues are interesting and legitimate. Much, much more often the prologue is used as a free info-dump. The writer feels no need to ‘hook’ me into the book—so why …
I have always felt that a writer writes a book. A reader reads the book. Together they make a story. The words I read will be filtered through the unique and specific lenses of my own personality, experience, and values. The story I end up with will be slightly different from the one anyone else gets from the very same …